Contrary to Amnesty International’s belief, the P10,000 given to policemen when they were still in charge of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war against drugs wasn’t a reward for killing drug suspects.
In his speech at the Bureau of Customs’ founding anniversary Wednesday (Feb. 8), Duterte said the money given to cops was a bait for them to dangle to suspected drug traffickers.
A former government prosecutor, Duterte said policemen should catch drug suspects in the act of dealing drugs so they could be charged with drug trafficking.
‘If you do not have that kind of transaction, there is no trafficking. And that is why there are given five, P10,000 to buy so that there can be a seller and a buyer and that is trafficking. Because if we’ll just catch him with the possession, the penalties then he can post a bail,” he said.
Duterte, however, said problems arise when corrupt policemen pocket the money for themselves.
“Ang mga g*** na ‘to, makipag-transaksyon, barilin ‘yung tao, wala namang trinansact (transact), kunin pa ‘yung pera shabu at ipagbili uli,” he said.
Citing a police official, Amnesty International claimed in its report on the administration’s war against drugs that policemen were given netween P8,000 to P15,000 for the drug suspects they kill.
The PNP has denied the allegation, with PNP chief Director General Ronald Dela Rosa saying the agency has no budget to reward cops.
